Sex charge filed against former soccer coach found with teenager

A former high school soccer coach arrested with a missing 17-year-old girl has been charged with unlawful sexual acti...

Posted: Dec. 15, 2017 8:38 PM

Updated: Dec. 17, 2017 1:36 PM

A former high school soccer coach arrested with a missing 17-year-old girl has been charged with unlawful sexual activity with a minor, Florida authorities said Friday.

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Rian Rodriguez, 27, appeared in court in Columbia County, Florida, on Friday morning after being booked into the county jail the previous day. He had previously been charged with interference with child custody, a third-degree felony.

Caitlyn Frisina, a student at Fort White High, and Rodriguez, a boys' soccer coach at her school, were the subject of a nationwide search after her parents discovered she was missing from their home on November 26. Investigators said it appeared she crawled out of her bedroom window.

Authorities quickly determined she had left with Rodriguez. Police in New York state spotted them in a car on December 1 and took Rodriguez into custody.

Friends reported that Frisina said Rodriguez wanted her to leave the country with him "and she didn't know how to get out of it," according to police reports. In an interview after his arrest, she said they planned to go to Canada but had not worked out the details.

Rodriguez had been investigated a few months earlier for possibly having an inappropriate relationship with Frisina but "there was nothing seen to be inappropriate," a spokesman for the Columbia County Sheriff's Office said.

The judge set bond for Rodriguez at $125,000 on the two charges. The judge said Rodriquez must surrender his passport, have no contact with Frisina and wear a GPS monitor if he bonds out, CNN affiliate WJXT reported.

The school district said Rodriguez was fired during the search, WJXT reported.